A  DISCOURSE 


BEFORE   THE 


GENERAL   ASSEMBLY 


OF 


SOUTH    CAROLINA, 

ON  DECEMBER  tO,  18G3, 


ArrOINTED     BY 


THE   LEGISLATURE 


AS   A    DAY   OF 


FASTING,  HUMILIATION  AND  PRAYER. 


BY    B.    M.    PALMEK,    D.    r>., 

OP   NEW   ORLEANS,   LA. 


COLUMBIA,    S.    C. 
CHARLES  P.  PELHAM,  STATE  PRINTER. 

1864. 


A  DISCOURSE 


BEFORE    THE 


GENERAL  ASSEMBLY 


OF 


SOUTH   CAROLINA, 

ON  DECEMBER  10,  1863, 


Af>POINTED    BY 


THE   LEGISLATURE 


AS    A   DAY    OP 


FASTING,  HUMILIATION  AND  PRAYER. 


BY    B.    M.    PALMER,    D.    D., 

OP   NEW   ORLEANS,   LA. 


COLUMBIA,    S.    C. 
CHARLES  P.  PELHAM,  STATE  PRINTER. 

1864. 


THtVLUVXL^--  ^i;^^ 


DISCOURSE 


Psalm  LX,  vv.  1—4.  *'0  !  God,  thou  hagt  cast  us  off;  thou  hast  scattered  us  ; 
thou  has  been  displeased:  0!  turn  thyself  to  us  again.  Thou  hast  made  the 
earth  to  tremble;  thou  hast  broken  it:  heal  the  breaches  thereof,  for  it  shaketh. 
Thou  hast  showed  thy  people  hard  things;  thou  hast  made  us  to  drink  the  wine 
of  astonishment;  thou  has  given  a  banner  to  them  that  feared  thee,  that  it  may 
be  displayed  because  of  the  truth." 

There  is  a  deep  significance  in  this  asseniblage,  and  in  the 
manner  of  its  convocation.     The  supreme  legislative  authority 
of  a  sovereign  State  has  set  apart  this  day  as  a  sabbath  to  the 
Lord.     The  Eepresentatives  of  a  free  people  arrest  the  work  of 
legislation  in  an  hour  of  public  peril,  that  they  may  lead  their 
constituency  in  an  act  of  solemn  worship  to  Almighty  God, 
humbly  imploring  Him  to  withdraw  the  chastening  hand  that 
has  fallen  so  severely  upon  our  common  country.     It  is  the 
nearest  approach  which  can  be  made  to  an  act  of  worship  by 
the  State,  as  such.     We  reject  the  shallow  nominalism  which 
makes  the  State  a  dead'  abstraction.     It  is  more  than  an  a2:2-re- 
gation  of  individuals.     It  is  an  incorporated  society,  and  pos- 
sesses a  unity  of  life  resembling  the  individuality  of  a  single 
being.     It  can  deliberate  and  concur  in  common  conclusions 
which  are  carried  out  in  a  joint  action,  analogous  to  the  powers 
of  thought  and  will  in  a  single  mind.     It  stands  in  definite  moral 
relations,  not  only  to  the  individuals  who  are  subject  to  its  au- 
thority, but  to  other  societies  similarly  constituted — giving  rise 
to  a  code  of  public  morality,  and  to  the  law  of  nations  by  which 
their  mutual  intercourse  is  regulated.     It  is  this  principle  which 
lends  significance  to  these  religious  solemnities  ; — that  the  State 
is,  in  some  clear  sense,  a  sort  of  person  before  God,  girded  with 
responsibilities  which  draw  it  within  His  comprehensive  govern- 
ment, capable  of  executing  a  trust,  and  distinctly  recognizing 
both  its  obligations  and  its  rights.     Thus,  to-day,  this  venerable 
Commonwealth,  through  her  constituted  authorities,  legislative 
and  executive,  bends   the   knee   before   the    God   of  Heaven, 


acknowledging  her  dependance  upon  Him  who  "ruleth  in  the 
kingdom  of  men,  and  giveth  it  to  whomsoever  He  will. 

A  sacred  awe  steals  upon  me  in  placing  upon  your  lips,  Sen- 
ators and  Representatives,  the  words  of  the  Hebrew  monarch, 
uttered  three  thousand  years  ago,  yet  so  apposite  to  our  own 
times.  You  remember  the  circumstances  under  which  David 
came  to  the  Jewish  throne,  and  with  what  difficulty  the  succession 
was  transferred  from  the  house  of  Saal.  Through  seven  years 
a  fearful  schism  had  rent  the  tribes  of  Israel ;  during  which  the 
retainers  of  the  feeble  Islibosheth  disputed  the  supremacy  of 
him  whom  the  prophet  of  the  Lord  had,  by  solemn  unction, 
prefigured  to  the  throne.  The  nation  was  still  rocking  beneath 
the  ground-swell  of  these  political  troubles,  at  the  time  the  text 
was  penned.  I^To  sooner,  too,  did  David  grasp  an  undisputed 
sceptre,  than  he  was  called  to  enter  upon  that  series  of  conquests 
by  which  the  prophetic  limits  of  the  Hebrew  empire  should  be 
attained.  Upon  comparing,  however,  the  title  of  the  sixtieth 
Psalm  with  the  corresponding  events  in  the  national  chronicles, 
we  derive  the  immediate  occasion  of  its  composition.  A  formi- 
dable and  successful  expedition  had  been  sent  against  Syria — 
not  only  that  portion  lying  between  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates, 
but  that  also  lying  towards  the  more  distant  Orontes.  Whilst 
the  military  strength  of  the  country  was  thus  withdrawn,  the 
Edomites,  the  hereditary  enemies  of  Palestine,  took  advantage 
of  its  defenceless  condition  to  make  a  bold  and  sudden  invasion. 
The  tide  of  war  swept  with  unrebuked  severity  over  the  land, 
until  it  threatened  to  extinguish  the  national  existence — a  catas- 
trophe only  averted  by  the  seasonable  return  of  the  conquerors 
of  the  East,  who  overthrew  the  barbarous  marauders  with  dread- 
ful slaughter  in  the  Valley  of  Salt,  upon  the  south  of  the  Dead 
Sea. 

The  issue  of  these  sanguinary  conflicts  is  familiar  to  all  readers 
of  the  Sacred  books.  The  power  of  David  became  more  firmly 
consolidated;  his  enemies  from  within  and  from  without  were 
overthrown ;  and  he  continued  to  reign  over  an  undivided  em- 
pire, the  greatest  militar}/  chieftain  of  his  times,  transmitting  at 
length  a  peaceful  sceptre  to  his  illustrious  son.  But  in  the  midst 
of  these  perilous  adventures,  when  the  fate  of  the  realm  was 
trembling  upon  the  balance,  the  monarch  bard  penned  these 


raournfal  lines,  so  descriptive  of  the  dangers  which  invoke  this 
day's  prayer  on  the  part  of  our  afflicted  State.  Truly,  the  wine 
of  astonishment  is  given  us  to  drink !  The  throes  of  a  stupen- 
dous revolution  shake  the  land  as  with  the  terrors  of  an  earth- 
quake; and  the  hurning  crust  upon  wliich  our  people  tread 
threatens  at  every  step  to  part  asunder  and  to  swallow  them  up 
in  the  yawning  abyss.  Tholi,  O  God,  hast  made  the  earth  to 
tremble;  and  thou  alone  canst  heal  the  breaches  under  which 
it  shaketh!  O  thon,  who  hast  scattered  us  in  thy  displeasure, 
hear  the  prayer  of  thy  people  this  day,  and  turn  thyself  to  us 
again  ! 

But  whilst  we  address  our  supplications  to  the  most  high  God, 
let  it  be  remembered  that  the  langtiage  of  true  prayer  is  never 
the  cry  of  supine  imbecility,  nor  the  wail  of  craven  despondency.' 
It  is  always  the  language  of  hope  and  of  expectation.  It  is  the 
utterance  of  a  strong  and  brave  heart,  struggling  with  its  diffi- 
culties, and  casting  itself  with  sublime  faith  upon  the  power  of 
an  omnipotent  arm.  In  its  very  cry  for  help,  it  gives  the  pledge 
of  a  resolved  purpose  to  fulfil  whatever  obligations  are  imposed 
by  the  dangers  which  ^surround  it,  or  which  are  involved  in  its 
own  expectation  of  deliverance.  The  man  does  not  truly  pray, 
whose  heart  is  paralyzed  with  fear ;  his  despair  stifles  the  peti- 
tion in  its  utterance ;  and  the  feeble  whisper,  which  breathes 
forth  the  enervated  appeal,  confesses  in  the  cowardice  of  its 
distrust  the  falsehood  of  its  plea.  He  alone  prays,  who  pledges 
his  endeavor  to  do  and  to  endure  all  that  is  comprehended  in  the 
answer  to  his  petition.  Piety,  therefore,  combines  with  pru- 
dence, and  both  unite  with  a  lofty  courage,  in  calmly  surveying 
the  perils  which  surround  us;  that  we  may  deduce  the  solemn 
duties  which  spring  from  the  bosom  of  our  trials,  and  which 
bind  the  consciences  of  a  people  who  have  undertaken  to  lift  up 
to  God  the  voice  of  hopeful  and  confiding  prayer.. 

Daring  the  progress  of  this  relentless  war,  our  enemies  have 
wrested  from  us  the  great  river  of  the  west,  which  once  bore 
upon  its  waters  the  commerce  of  half  a  continent ;  and  though 
its  possession  has  proved  nearly  valueless  to  them,  its  loss  to  us 
severs  the  connexion  between  portions  of  the  Confederacy,  and 
renders   active   cooperation   betwixt   them   almost  impossible. 


They  have  placed  the  heel  of  oppression  upon  the  queenly  city 
which,  within  the  embraces  of  this  imperial  stream,  once  filled 
her  horn  with  plenty,  and  danced  gaily  to  the  sound  of  the  viol 
and  harp.  They  have  trodden  down  and  defiled  other  noble 
towns  and  cities,  once  the  abodes  of  afiluence,  the  seats  of  learn- 
ing and  science,  whose  ancient  families  handed  down  from  father 
to  son  a  proud,  ancestral  name.  Their  mailed  ships  beleaguer 
our  coast,  and  seek  to  seal  our  ports  against  the  commerce  of 
the  world.  They  have  massed  their  numerous  armies  and  driven 
them,  like  a  wedge,  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  heart  of  the  land ; 
exulting  in  the  hope  of  speedily  riving  it  in  sunder,  as  the  axe- 
man of  the  forest  rives  the  gigantic  but  fallen  oak.  They  have 
stirred  up  the  ^^esentment  of  ihe  civilized  world  against  our 
social  organization,  and  pointed  their  prejudices,  like  poisoned 
spears,  against  our  cause,  that  our  strength  may  dry  up  within 
our  bones  in  this  state  of  dreadful  seclusion.  In  all  history 
there  is  nothing  more  grandly  sublime  than  the  perfect  isolation 
in  which  the  Southern  Confederacy  is  now  battling  for  those 
rights  which  are  so  dear  to  the  human  heart.  The  nations  of 
the  earth  have  no  eye  of  pity  for  our  distress,  no  tear  of  sym- 
pathy for  our  wrongs.  They  turn  away  in  cold  indiflerence,  and 
leave  us  to  grapple  with  a  superior  foe,  whose  malice  feeds  upon 
the  memories  of  past  brotherhood,  and  can  be  satiated  only  by 
drinking  the  life  of  a  people  to  whom  they  were  once  bound  by 
the  most  sacred  of  covenants.  Yet  all  aloue,  this  young  nation, 
strong  only  in  her  consciousness  of  right,  girds  herself  for  the 
mighty  struggle.  Like  the  fabled  Antoeus,  she  gathers  strength 
from  the  very  reverses  which  bring  her  to  the  ground,  and  rises 
with  new  energy  to  the  conflict.  She  drops  a  tear  over  the  tombs 
of  her  martyrs,  and  then  goes  patiently  again  under  her  baptism 
of  blood.  All  alone,  she  lifts  an  eye  of  faith  to  Heaven  above, 
and  beneath  the  shadow  of  Jehovah's  throne,  strikes  again  for 
liberty  and  life.  All  alone,  with  God  for  her  avenger,  she  treads 
danger  beneath  her  feet,  and  moves  forward  to  the  triumph 
which  an  assured  faith  reveals  steadily  to  her  gaze.  Like  David 
in  the  text,  she  stands  upon  the  trembling  earth,  and  whilst 
drinking  the  wine  of  astonishnient  mingled  in  her  cup,  she  re- 
cognizes a  commission  from  the  God  of  Heaven  which  binds  her 
to  duty  in  the  face  of  trial,  and  receives  at  His  hands  a  banner 


which  she  must  display  because  of  the  truth.     Let  us,  my  hearers, 
read   the   inscriptions  upon  this   bauner ;    and   then  throw  its 
folds  anew  to  the  breeze,  in  testimony  of  the  principles  which 
we  are  called  this  day  to  confess  before  the  nations  of  the  world. 
I.  In  the  first  place,  a  banner  is  given  us  to  be  displayed  in 
defence  of  republican  institutions  upon  this  continent.     Among 
the  issues  involved  in  this  conflict,  this  certainly  is  not  the  least. 
The  imagination  may,  perhaps,  be  more  impressed  with  the  phy- 
sical dimensions  of  the  war,  with  the  hundreds  of  thousands 
iu  armed  array  upon  the  field  of  battle,  with  the  ponderous 
a-rtillery  hurling  its  deal}^  missiles  against  our  beleaguered  for- 
tresses.    But  the  moral  grandeur  of  the  struggle  lies  in  the  im- 
mortal principles  which  are  at  stake,  and  which  will  give  to  it 
its  true  place  in  the  history  that  shall  hereafter  be  written. 
Schlegel  has  well  remarked,  in  his  Philosophy  of  History,  that 
"  in  the  whole  circumference  of  the  globe  there  is  only  a  certain 
number  of  nations  that  occupy  an  important  and  really  historic 
place  in  the  annals  of  civilization."     In  a  comparatively  narrow 
belt,  extending  from  the  south-east  of  Asia- to  the  northern  and 
western  extremities  of  Europe,  he  finds  the  only  historical  and 
highly  civilized  countries  who  have  made  any  substantive  con- 
tribution to  the  general  progress  of  mankind.     Without  pausing 
now  to  inquire  whether  his  classification  is  complete,  or  whether 
since  his  day  additions  should  not  be  made  to  the  fifteen  nations 
embraced  within  his  *'land  chart  of  civilization,"  his  discrimi- 
nation between  the  historic  and  unhistoric  races  must  be  allowed 
as  just.     It  is   unquestionable,  moreover,  that  every  historic 
people  is  marked  by  characteristics  which  render  it  strictly  indi- 
vidual.    Egypt,  for  example,  from  the  moment  she  lay  in  her 
cradle  of  bulrushes  upon  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  has  exhibited 
a  character  purely  and  intensely  Egyptian.     The  llebrew  and 
the  Persian  difi:er  as  clearly  from  the  Eoman  and  the  Greek,  as 
those  in  turn  differ  from  the  English  and  the  Spaniard,  and  these 
again  from  the  Eussian  and  the  Turk.     Nor  can  it  be  denied 
that  in  the  comprehensive  scheme  of  Divine  providence,  all  such 
nations  have  an  assigned  work,  and  are  preserved  in  being  till 
that  work  is  done.     Thus,  Greece  was  perpetuated  until  she  had 
carried  the  arts  of  sculpture  and  painting,  of  poetry,  eloquence 
and  song,  to  a  perfection  which  has  never  been  surpassed ;  and 


when  she  could  do  no  more  in  philosophy  and  science,  she  was 
trodden  in  the  dust  beneath  the  iron-heeled  legions  of  Eome. 
When  Eome,'  too,  had  built  Up  an  empire  as  wide  as  the  world, 
and  could  do  no  more  bv  her  systems  of  jurisprudence  and 
state-craft,  she  slid  into  a  military  despotism ;  until  at  length 
her  mighty  framework  gave  way,  under  the  pressure  of  barba- 
rian hordes,  that  from  her  ruins  might  spring  the  present  Con- 
gress of  European  nations. 

It  is  not,  then,  aside  from  the  purposes  of  this  day,  to  consider 
what  raay  be  the  task  which  the  great  Kuler  of  the  earth  has 
set  our  people  to  accomplish,  and  how  far  its  successful  issue 
may  be  bound  up  in  the  history  of  the  present  struggle.  The 
grand  problem  undertaken  to  be  solved  by  our  forefathers  was 
the  establishment  of  a  free  government  under  republican  forms, 
in  which  the  exercise  of  sovereign  power  should  be  lodged  in 
representatives,  chosen  by  the  people.  The  possibility  of  such 
a  government,  and  of  its  continuance  to  remote  posterity,  is  the 
question  now  submitted  to  the  arbitrament  of  the  sword  between 
the  Korth  and  the  South.  It  is  our  clear  conviction  that  the 
same  grave  in  which  this  Confederacy  shall  be  buried,  will  prove 
the  sepulchre  of  republicanism  upon  this  continent.  During 
the  progress  of  this  fearful  strife,  expressions  of  doubt  as  to  the 
feasibility  and  value  of  such  a  government  have  fallen  from 
many  lips — and  sometimes  the  preference  has  been  openly 
avowed  for  a  constitutional  and  limited  monarchy.  Too  much 
importance  should  not  be  attached  to  utterances,  which  are 
probably  the  language  of  impatience,  wrung  out  by  disappoint- 
ment and  sufl'ering,  rather  than  of  matured  and  sober  reflection. 
It  is,  however,  a  weakness  to  shrink  from  the  discipline  to 
which  all  nations  are  subjected  in  working  out  their  allotted 
destiny,  l^o  grand  experiment  in  the  science  of  legislation  can 
be  achieved  without  trial  and  conflict ;  for  in  the  clashing  in- 
terests and  passions  of  men,  causes  of  insecurity  will  ever  be 
found,  and  constant  modification  of  existing  institutions  will  be 
required  to  adapt  them  to  the  changes  of  outward  circum- 
stances. When,  therefore,  a  stable  government,  like  that  of 
England,  is  enviously  cited  in  contrast  with  the  fluctuations  of 
our  own,  it  is  overlooked  that  this  great  boon  was  not  pur- 
chased except  at  the  cost  of  seven  hundred  years  of  conflict. 


We  have  but  to  look  into  the  brilliant  pages  of  Macaulay  to 
learn  how  long  and  bitter  was  the  struggle  between  prerogative 
on  the  one  hand,  and  privilege  on  the  other,  before  these  two 
poles  of  the  English  constitution  were  adjusted  in  even  toler- 
able harmony.  It  is  far  too  early  for  us  to  abandon  the  experi- 
ment commenced  by  oiir  fathers,  and  unmanly  to  succumb 
beneath  the  first  dilficulties  encountered  in  our  historic  proba- 
tion. Rather  let  us,  with  the  patience  and  moderation  of  our 
British  ancestors,  amend  by  gradual  changes  what  experience 
shows  to  be  defective  in  our  institutions,  without  capriciously 
changing  the  foundation  of  the  government  under  which  we 
were  born.  '  ^ 

But  be  the  abstract  preferences  of  men  what  they  may,  it 
should  be  borne  steadily  in  mind, 'that  governments  at  last  are 
not  made,  but  grow.  The  philosopher  may  sketch,  in  the 
seclusion  of  his  closet,  the  Utopia  which  charms  his  fancy;  but 
the  statesman  must  accept  that  form  of  government  which  the 
antecedent  conditions  of  society  may  impose.  Despite  all  the 
artilices  of  a  speculative  legislation,  it  will  crystalize  according 
to  a  fixed  law,  in  precisely  that  shape  which  the  exigencies  of 
the  times  and  the  character  of  the  people  shall  determine.  We, 
at  this  day,  must  work  out  the  problem  bequeathed  to  us 
according  to  the  conditions  in  which  we  find  it,  as  did  our 
fathers  before  us.  The  republican  form  of  government  was 
adopted  by  them,  not  through  original  choice,  but  as  a  simple 
necessity.  The  controversy  with  England  was  not  begun  for 
republicanism,  though  it  ended  in  it.  With  them  monarchy 
was  not  so  much  repudiated,  as  liberty  was  sought:  and  if  any 
branch  of  the  royal  family  had  resided  here,  and  had  sympa- 
thized with  the  passionate  struggle  of  a  young  nation  to  be 
both  great  and  free,  the  conservative  spirit  of  our  forefathers 
w^ould  have  led  to  the  establishment  of  monarchy  upon  these  re- 
publican shores.  But  there  was  no  titled  class,  having  the  pres- 
tige of  nobility  and  rank,  from  which  a  monarch  could  be  chosen; 
and  the  statesmen  of  this  period  dwelt  too  much  in  the  light  of 
past  history  not  to  know  the  impossibility  of  lifting  a  single 
family,  from  the  uniform  level  of  society,  to  permanent  presi- 
dency over  the  rest.  They  were  too  well  skilled  in  political 
2 


10 

4 

science  not  to  be  aware  that  the  wi^e  interval  between  the 
commonalty  and  the  throne  must  be  filled  with  an  interme- 
diate class,  who  should  render  the  ascent  less  abrupt  and  precipi- 
tous. These  conditions  of  monarchy  failing,  our  fathers  evinced 
their  practical  wisdom  in  striking  the  golden  mean  between  the 
radicalism  which  overturns  only  for  the  sake  of  remodelling,  and 
that  fatal  conservatism  which,  in  its  blind  attachment  to  inherit- 
ance and  prescription,  resists  the  progress  it  should  aim  to  guide. 
The  actual  sovereignty  of  th,e  people  was  accordingly  recognized; 
but  the  country  was  saved  from  the  savage  rule  of  \inlicensed 
democracy  by  the  establishment  of  a  Confederate  republic,  with 
its  written  constitution,  and  all  the  checks  and  balances  which 
can  be  furnished  by  two  deliberative  chambers,  the  presidential 
veto  and  state  sovereignty.-  A  little  reflection  should  convince 
every  mind  that  the  same  difficulties  which  interdicted  monarch}^- 
in  1776,  exist  in  even  stronger  force  in  our  own  day.  Nothing 
consequently  is  left  us  but  to  accept  our  problem  exactly  as  we 
find  it,  and  to  solve  it,  if  we  can,  under  the  smiles  of  a  benignant 
Providence.  It  is  the  dream  of  the  Radical  to  change  our  whole 
political  fabric  from  turret  to  foundation  stone;  but  true  wisdom 
dictates  that  such  modifications  shall  be  gradually  admitted  as 
time  and  experience  shall  hereafter  suggest. 

The  maintenance  of  republican  institutions  being  then  at  once 
a  duty  and  necessity,  no  proposition  seems  clearer,  than  that 
these  are  bound  up  in  the  fate  of  our  own  Confederacy — which 
conviction  gives  us  assurance  of  the  ultimate  and  complete 
triumph  of  our  cause.  '  The  !N"orthern  people,  from  the  com- 
mencement of  American  history,  have  failed  to  seize  the  true 
idea  of  a  republic.  They  have  confounded  it  with  democrac}^, 
from  which  it  is  as  genericali^^  distinct  as  from  monarchy  itself, 
llepublicanism,  with  them,  is  only  democracy  writ  small — a 
merely  mechanical  device  for  condensing  the  masses,  and  ren- 
dering practicable  the  government  of.  the  mob.  They  have 
pushed  the  doctrine  to  the  verge  of  ungodliness  and  atheism,  in 
making  the  voice  of  the.  people  the  voice  of  God;  in  exalting, 
the  will  of  a  numerical  majority  above  the  force  of  constitution 
and  covenants,  and  creating  in  the  despotism  of  the  mob  the 
vilest  and  most  irresponsible  tyranny  known  in  the  annals  of 
mankind.    ]^ot,  however,  to  insist  upon  their  fundamental  mis- 


11 

conception  of  the  very  nature  of  republicanism,  which  has 
worked  out  its  legitimate  result  in  the  total  prostration  of  civil 
liberty,  and  in  the  ignominious  surrender  of  all  its  safeguards, 
a  fatal  defect  is  patent  in  the  very  structure  of  their  society, 
which  renders  them  utterly  incompetent  to  achieve  what  our 
forefathers  liad  commenced..^  I  allude  to  the  fact  that.no  class 
exists  with  them,  which  stands  forth  the  representative  and 
guardian  of  the  conservative  element  in  human  society.  This 
is  sufficient  to  exphiin  I  ho  rupture  between  the  two  portions  of 
the  old  confederation.  The  conservative  element  existed  only 
at  the  South.  Loiio-  aiid'patiently  it  battled  against  the  usurpa- 
tions of  an  aggressive  and  unprincipled  democracy;  but  over- 
powered at  length,  its  only  resource  was  separation  from  a 
lawless  power,  which  could  not  even  be  held  in  check.  This 
withdrawal  leaves  the  ^N'ortli  hopelessly  destj^tute  of  that  conser- 
vative influence,  which  must  always  be  proportioned  with  the 
aggressive  forces  at  work — or  the  nation  drives  recklessly  for- 
ward to  its  own  destruction.  Individuals  may,  doubtless,  be 
found  in  their  ranks,  of  sound  and  conservative  views  ;  but  these 
are  not  grouped  and  consolidated  in  a  class  holding  the  balance 
of  power  in  the  nation:  and  the  singular  ease  with  which  all 
moderate  views  have  been  swept  away  by  the  stormy  clamors 
of  the  populace,  too  mournfully  attests  how  feeble  is  the  breast- 
w^ork  against  vulgar  fanaticism  presented  by  insulated  indivi- 
duafs.  In  the  South,  however,  whatever  odium  may  attach  to 
her  social  organization  through  a  perverted  and  unscriptural 
phifanthropy,  this  capital  advantage  accrues  :  that  the  dominant 
race,  by  the  force  of  its  position  towards  an  inferior  and  servile 
class,  is  rendered  conservative  in  the  highest  degree.  All  their 
interests  are  bound  up  in  the  perpetuation  of  the  prevailing 
institutions  of  the  land;  and  the  class,  whose  tendencies  might 
be  to  change,  l^as  no  share  whatever  in  the  administration  of 
public  affairs.  It  matters  not  whether  slaves  be  actually  owned, 
by  many  or  by  few :  it  is  enough  that  one  simply  belongs  to  the 
superior  and  ruling  race,  to^  secure  consideration  and  respect. 
So  that,  without  a  hereditary  and  privileged  nobility,  inconsist- 
ent with  the  simplicity  of  republican  taste,  all  the  political 
benefit  which  springs  from  the  existence  of  such  an  order,  lodges 
with  the  entire  population  who  have  any  control  over  the  land. 


12 

But  whatever  maybe  thought  of  the  relative  competency  of 
the  JSTorth  and  the  South  to  perpetuate  republican  principles,  it 
is  perfectly  clear  that  the  subjugation  of  the  latter  closes  the 
door  of^hope  against  both.  The  South,  sunk  into  the  condition 
of  a  dependent  province,  will  have  lost  the  opportunity  of  real- 
izing in  external  form  any  of  her  most  cherished  opinions  ; 
while  the  conquering  N"orth,  in  the  very  fact  of  her  triumph, 
will  have  extinguished  the  last  vestige  of  that  government 
which  she  now  wages  war  professedly  to  maintain.  Holding 
her  conquest  only  by  military  force,  she  can  never  hope  to 
construct  anew  the  old  Confederacy,  whose  elementary  and  per- 
vading idea  was  the  free  consent  of  all  the  parties.  Constrained 
by  her  very  success  to  become  a  despot,  her  standing  armies, 
levied  for  the  suppression  of  revolt,  will  soon  tread  beneath 
their  feet  the  last  poor  remains  of  civil  liberty — and  the  history 
of  ancient  Rome's  subjection  to  the  Pretorian  guards,  will  be 
reenacted,  amidst  the  scorn  and  derision  of  all  mankind.  Say 
I  not  well,  that  the  banner  given  us  to  be  displayed  is  in  defence 
of  a  pure  republican  government  upon  this  American  continent? 
It  is  my  unwavering  conviction  that  God  has  rent  the  old  nation 
by  this  terrible  schism,  not  only  because  it  had  grown  too  great 
to  be  good,  and  to  prevent  its  becoming  the  scourge  and  pest  o,f 
the  world,  but  also  to  afford  in  this  Confederacy,  a  last  asylum 
for  the  genius  of  republicanism  to  work  out,  if  possible,  its  pro- 
mised blessings  to  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

II.  In  the  second  place,  a  solemn  duty  is  imposed  upon  us  to 
protect  the  slave,  peculiarly  dependent  upon  our  guardianship, 
from  the  schemes  of  a  false  philanthropy  which  threaten  his 
early  and  inevitable  extermination.  It  is  not  my  purpose  here 
to  discuss  the  institution  of  domestic  servitude  existins^  amonsrst 
us.  The  argument  has  long  since  been  exhausted  upon  both 
sides  of  this  disputed  topic  ;  and  those  who  have  given  it  their 
attention  have  long  since  reached,  upon  the  one  side  or  the 
other,  probably  an  unchangeable  conviction.  Some  facts  have, 
however,  been  grievously  overlooked  by  the  fanatical  assailants 
of  slavery,  which,  it  seems  to  us,  have  much  to  do  with  a  cor- 
rect interpretation  of  God's  providence  in  reference  to  this 
.entire  subject.  The  negro  race,  for  example,  has  never  in  any 
period  of  history  been  able  to  lift  itself  above  its  native,  condi- 


18 

tiou  of  fetishism  and  barbarism  ;  and  except  as  it  has  indirectly 
contributed  by  servile?  labor  to  human  progress,  might  well  be 
discounted,  according  to  Schlegel's  view,  in  the  general  estimate 
of  the  world's  inhabitants.  Often  as  they  have  been  brought  in 
contact  with  other  and  superior  races,  the}^  have  never  been 
stimulated  to  become  a  self-supporting. people,  under  well  regu- 
lated institutions  and  laws;  but  have  invariably  relapsed  from 
a  partial  civilization  into  their  original  state  of  degradation  and 
imbecility.  It  is  moreover  notoriously  true  that  the  highest 
type  of  character,  ever  developed  among  them,  has  been  in  the 
condition  of  servitude;  and  that,  in  the  fairest  portions  of  the 
earth,  after  the  advantage  of  a  long  discipline  to  systematic  toil, 
emancipation  has  converted  them  instantly  from  productive 
laborers  into  the  most  indolent  and  squalid  wretches  to  be  found 
upon  the  globe.  Whilst  too,  as  by  the  forjce  of  a  universal  law, 
-an  inferior  race  melts  away  in  the  presence  of  a  superior  civili- 
zation, a  few  thousand  Africans  have  expanded  under  this 
system  of  domestic  slavery  into  four  millions  of  people  ;  consti- 
tuting, at  this  moment,-  the  best  conditioned,  the  happiest,  and 
I  will  add,  in  the  essential  import  of  the  word,  the  freest  opera- 
tive class  to  be  found  in  Christendom.  .It, is  also  beyond  dispute 
that  a  larger  number  of  slaves  at  the  South  are  in  the  com- 
munion of  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  hav^  been  made  partakers 
of  the  blessings  of  the  gospel,  than-  is  furnished  in  the  returns 
of  missionary  labor  by  all  the  branches  of  the  Christian  church 
ta^ken  together,  ovex  the  whole  surfixce  of  the  globe.  And  last 
of  all,  one  of  the  most  signiticant  facts  in  this  entire  ^series,  is, 
that  whilst  slavery  has  existed  in  every  variety  of  form  through 
the  whole  tract  of  human  history,  it  has  been  reserved  to  our 
times  to  beat  up  a  crusade  against  it  under  precisely  that  patri- 
archal form  in  which  it  is  sanctioned  in  the  Avord  of  God,  and 
in  which  it  has  never  been  found  since  the  overthrow  of  the 
Hebrew  empire,  until  now.  My  individual  belief  is,  that  servi- 
tude, in  some  one  of  its  forms,  is  the  allotted  destiny  of  this  race, 
and  that  the  form  most  benelicial  to  the  negro  himself  is  pre- 
cisely that  which  obtains  with  us ;  where,  either  as  born  in  the 
house,  or  bought  with  our  money,  he  is  a  reguhir  member  of 
the  household,  and  is  protected  alike  by  the  ailection  and  by  the 
interest  of  the  master.     I  am   not  in  the  least  appalled  by  the 


14 

apparent  unanimit}^  with  which  the  voice  of  Christendom  pro- 
tests against  the  lawfulness  of  slavery,  and  pronounces  it  both-a 
heresy  and' a  crime.  It  is  the  fashion  of  the  world  to  go  periodi- 
cally mad  upon  some  wild  scheme,  which  contrives  to  enlist  in 
its  support  a  misdirected  religious  zeal.  This  is  far  from  being 
the  first  instance  where  a^religious  fanaticism  has  stirred  the 
depths  of  the  human  heart,  and  brought  the  world  in  fearful 
collision  with  the  grand  and  fixed  purposes  of  Almighty  God. 
Medicoval  Europe,  with  all  the  fervor  of  religious  consecration, 
poured  forth  her  armed  myriads  to  rescue  the  Holy  Land  from 
the  polluting  tread  of  the  Saracen.  It  shocked  the  conscience 
of  that  superstitious  age  that  the  sepulchre  of  our  blessed  Lord 
should  be  in  possession  of  the  Infidel.  Under  the  passionate 
appeals  of  vagrant  monks,  a  sustained  fanaticism,  surviving  a, 
thousand  disasters,  held  Christendom  to  the  visionary  enterprise 
through  a  period  far  longer  than  that  which  attests  the  folly  and 
superstition  of  the  age  in  which  we  now  live.  But  as  the 
gathering  tides  of  ocean  dash  in -vain  against  the  continents  by 
which  the  Creator  bounds  their  fury,  so  this  wild  fanaticism, 
.  ,  after  a  frightful  waste  of  treasure  and  of  life,  broke  into  spray 
against  the  decree  of  God  :  and  Europe's  proud  chivalry  return- 
ed from  the  vain  conflict,  to  learn  at  home  .the  lesson  of  submis- 
sion to  the  behests  of  Heaven.  •  Perhaps  one  of  the  results  of 
this  grand  struggle  will  be  to  correct  the  error  of  the  world  as 
to  this  whole  matter  of  domestic  slavery — to  teach  mankind  that 
the  allotment  of  God,  in  the  original  distribution  of  destinies  to 
the  sons  of  Noah,  must  continue,  despite  the  ravings  of  a  spuri- 
ous and  sentimental  philanthropy — to  illustrate  the  riches  of 
his  grace,  and  the  workings  of  a  beneficent  gospel,  through  the 
relation  of  master  and  servant,  not  less  than  through  that  of 
parent  and  child,  and  all  the  other  permanent  relations  in  which 
man  stands  to  his  fellow  man. 

On  this  point,  however,  I  do  not  wish  to  be  misunderstood; 
and  having  said  so  much,  I  desire  to  say  a  little  more>  Whilst 
rebuking  the  presumption  of  those  who  clamor  for  the  emanci- 
pation of  those  whom  God  has  manifestly  placed  under  the 
yoke,  I  would  not  fall  into  the  same  condemnation,  by  insisting 
upon  the  perpetual  bondage  of  those  whom  it  may  please  Him 
finally  to  release.-     Being  firmly  persuaded  that  the  relation  of 


15 

master  and  servant  is  clearly  ordained  of  God,  and  that  there 
is  no  more  sin  intrinsically  in  it  than  in  the  suhordination  of 
parent  and  child,  I  /eel  no  compunction  of  conscience  in  the 
holding  of  slaves.  But  if  it  be  the  Divine  purpose  to  elevate 
them  into  a  condition  of  freedom,  I  believe  our  people  will  be 
the  last  to  rebel  against  the  decrees  of  Providence,  and  not  a 
feeling  of  their  hearts  Avill  rise  in  opposition  to  that  advance- 
ment. I  confess  frankly  that  I  have  no  expectation  of  such  a 
result.  ^From  all  the  attributes  of  the  negro  character,  from  the 
whole  history  of  God's  dealings  towards  him,  and  from  all  the 
light  shed  upon  his  destiny  from  'the  sacred  Scriptures,  I  judge 
his  true  normal  position  to  be  that  of  *'  a  servant  of  servants," 
and  that  his  own  interests  are  best  subserved  in  this  condition 
of  subordination  and  dependence.  But  the  decision  of  all  this 
I  am  willing  to  remit  to  that  future  to  which  it  belongs.  If  the 
dav  shall  ever  arrive  when  the  slave  oui2:ht  to  be  free,  God  will 
Sufficiently  indicate  it  by  evincing  his  aptitude  for  a  new  and 
independent  career,  and  by  maidng  it  the  interest  of  the  master 
to  dissolve  the  relation  hitherto  sustained.  We  airree,  with  all 
our  hearts,  to  leave  the  solution  of  this  intricate  problem  to  the 
generation  which  shall  be  called  to  decide  upon  it;  in  the  assured 
conviction  that,  if  emancipation  be  brought  about  at  all,  it  will 
be  in  God's  own  sublime  wa}-,  by  the  silent  operation  of  secret 
but  efficient  causes :  and  to  the  Divine  will,'  clearly  indicated 
through  the  unfoldings  of  His  providence,  we  respond  from  the 
depths  of  our  hearts  a  mpst  cheerful  amen.  But  we  do  protest 
against  the  impertinent  obtrusion  of  men  into  the  counsels  of 
Almight}^  God,  and  their  insolent  attempt  to  dictate  the  policy 
of  His  administration  of  human  affiiirs,  and  to  dig  the  channels 
jn  which  the  current  of  His  providence  must  be  made  artificially 
to  flow.  We  do  insist  further,  that  in  the  present  posture  of  the 
two  races,  the  African  cannot  cease  to  be  a  bondman  without 
bringing  utter  ruin  upon  both  rand  especially  that  our  subjuga- 
tion, in  the  present  struggle,  will  be  the  signal  for  the  extirpation 
«of  the  negro,  now  cast  by  God  upon  the  protection. of  the  white 
master.  The  truth  of  this,  alas  !  there  is  no  room  to  doubt.  All 
history  attests  the  impossibility  of  two  unequal  races  living  side 
by  side  with  mutual*  advantage.  The  inferior  gives  w^ay  before 
the  energy  and  resources  of  the  superior ;  nor  would  it  be  diffi- 


16 

cult  to  trace  the  causes  which  necessitate  the  direful  catastrophe. 
Does  any  one  dreara  that  the  fairest  portion  of  this  continent  will 
be  abandoned  to  the  fate  of  the  West  India  islands,  and  suffered 
to  grow  lip  into  a  wilderness  merely  to  farnish  a  home  for  a  lot 
of  indolent  barbarians  ?  The  lean  and  hungry  vandals,  now 
hoping  to  appropriate  our  broad  and  fertile  fields,  will  be  re- 
strained by  no  such  romantic  sentiment  from  swarming  upon 
the  land  which  their  o.wn  arms  have  subjugated.  Beneath  that 
fearful  invasion  the  negro  will  be  buried.  Mocl^ied  w^ith  a  de- 
lusive freedom  which  exists  for  him  only  in  name,  task-masters, 
more  unrelenting  than  those  of  Egypt,  will  exact  for  scanty 
wages  a  degree  of  toil  which  the  bondman  never  knew.  Pre- 
cisely here  his  ruin  will  begin.  Among  the  proofs  of  the 
negro's  fitness  for  servitude  is  the  striking  fact  that  he  cannot 
easily  be  overtasked.  The  white  man  may  be  induced  to  labor 
beyond  his  power  of  endurance,  until  nature  gives  way  beneath 
the  protracted  effort.  But  the  negro  reaches  his  natural  limit, 
and  becomes  at  once  incapable:  of  toil,  which  no  compulsion 
will  prompt  him  to  achieve.  What  hope  has  he  of  competing 
with  the  hardy  and  aggressive  race  who  shall  then  be  masters 
of  the  soil? ,  Can  he  thrive  as  the  slave  of  capital,  which  has  no  . 
bowels  of  mercy  for  the  aching  limbs  and  overstrained  nerves 
which  are  bending  and  breaking  beneath  the  scourge  of  starva- 
tion ?  Yielding  to  his  constitutional .  revulsion  from  undue 
labor,  and  emancipated  from  that  mild  constraint  which  now 
exacts  of  him  a  moderate  industry,  he  will  sink  back  into  his 
native  indolence— -melting  away  at  last  through  filth,  disease, 
and  vice,  until  not  a  vestige  of  his  existence  will  remain.  If 
this  be  the  doom  to  w^hik;h  he  is  reserved,  then  is  the  mystery 
of  that  providence  insoluble,  which  first  brought  him  to  our 
shores;  and  which  has  advanced  hini  from  a  savage  to  the  dignity 
of  a  man,  and  made  him  a  member  of  the  household  of  faith 
through  a  blessed  gospel,  which  here  in  bondage  he  has  been 
taught  to  embrace.  Whatever  the  nature  and  extent  of  our 
crimes,  which  have  drawn  upon  us.  the  avenging  judgments  of 
Heaven,  with  what  does  this  poor  feeble  race  stand  charged,  that 
they  should  be  led  to  the  shambles  by  the  inhuman  butchers 
who,  during  the  progress  of  this  war,  have  already  destroyed 
one  half  the  victims  seduced  into  their  power  ?     It  cannot  be 


17 

that  a  benignant  providence  has  allotted  to  them  "such  a  destiny 
as  this :  and  the  presence  of  the  helpless  African  is  to  us  a  sign 
of  the  Divine  protection  and  blessing.  With  his  fate  bound  up 
80  entirely  with  our  own,  I  believe  that  for  his  sake  at  least  we 
shall  be  preserved:  and  while  he  spreads  forth  his  hands  in 
mute  appeals  to  us  for  guardianship,  the  banner  of  defense  must 
be  unfurled,  beneath  whose  righteous  folds  both  the  master  and 
the  slave  may  boldly  rall3\  I  cannot  doubt  that  one  of  the 
compensations  of  this  bitter  conflict  will  be  to  sanctify,  and  to 
endear,  the  tie  by  which  these  two  races  are  linked  together. 
The  timid  amongst  ourselves  will  be  reassured,  when  they  dis- 
cover this  relation,  regarded  by  many  so  unstable,  unshaken  by 
the  rockings  of  this  terrific  tempest ;  and  in  the  sweeping  away 
of  these  groundless  fears,  the  way  will  be  prepared  for  the  more 
faithful  discharge  of  all  the  duties  which  slavery  involves.  Ee- 
lieved  of  tliose  embarrassments  which  a  hypocritical  fanaticism 
has  interposed,  we  shall  be  able,  with  greater  freedom,  to  give 
them  God's  blessed  word,  to  protect  their  persons  against  the 
abuses  of  capricious  power,  and  to  throw  the  shield  of  a  stronger 
guardianship  around  their  domestic  relations.  It  may  be  for 
this  that  our  people  are  now  passing  under  the  severe  discipline 
of  this  protracted  war — on  the  one  hand  to  chasten  us  for  past 
shortcomings,  and  on  the  other  to  enlarge  our  power  to  protect 
and  bless  the  race  committed  to  our  trust. 

III.  The  contest  in  which  we  are  embarked  is  a  struggle  for 
existence,  in  which  defeat  means  simple  destruction.  Our  ene- 
mies profess  indeed  to  fight  only  to  restore  the  Union,  and  to 
maintain  the  integrity  of  the  nation :  but  the  pretext  is  too 
hollow  to  deceive  those  who  have  watched  their  aggressions 
during  the  past.  Through  more  than  forty  years  the  North  has 
striven,  by  a  partial  and  discriminating  legislation,  to  reduce  the 
South  into  a  state  of  political  vassalage.  They  have  systemati- 
cally drained  her  wealth  to  enrich  themselves,  and  have  thrown 
upon  her  the  chief  burden  of  sustaining  the  common  govern- 
ment; whilst,  with  a  refinement  of  cruelty,  they  have  persistently 
sought  to  cripple  her  resources,  and  with  suicidal  madness  to 
overthrow  her  domestic  economy,  upon  which  the  welfare  of 
both  depended. 
t 


18 

The  ferocity  of  the  present  war  cannot  be  explained,  except 
as  the  culmination  of  a  studied  jealousy  which  has  been  culti- 
vated through  the  life  of  an  entire  generation.  No  hatred  is  so 
intense  as  that  which  glows  in  the  bosom  of  him  who  inflicts  a 
wrong,  ajid  which  can  justify  itself  only  by  its  implacability 
for  existing  at  all.  To  suppose  the  enmity  of  the  North  ap- 
peased just  at  the  moment  it  is  tasting  the  sweetness  of  revenge, 
is  to  give  it  Credit  for  a  generosity  which  would  have  forbidden 
it  ever  to  arise.  Nor  will  the  prize  for  which  a  parliamentary 
conflict  has  been  waged  through  half  a  century  be  relinquished, 
just  as  it  is  within  the  grasp.  Nothing  is  less  desired  by  the 
dominant  party  of  the  North,  than  the  reconstruction  of  the  old 
Union,  if  the  South  shall  ever  lie  at  its  feet  a  helpless  prey,  to 
be  devoured  at  its  will. 

Nor,  on  the  other  hand,  can  the  seceded  States  yield  again  a 
free  consent  to  reenter  the  old  Confederation;  which  consent  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  assumes  to  be  the  corner-stone 
upon  which  all  just  governments  must  rest.  An  experience 
through  half  a  century  of  the  perfidy  of  the  North,  interposes 
an  insuperable  bar  to  all  reconstruction.  The  utter  recklessness 
of  truth  on  the  part  of  our  foes  is  one  of  the  most  appalling 
developments  of  the  present  war;  and  I  believe  all  history  may 
be  vainly  searched  for  a  parallel  instance  of  the  abandonment 
of  all  truthfulness  by  an  entire  people.  It  is  a  degree  of  profli- 
gacy not  reached  by  a  single  leap.  Eapid  as  may  be  the  de- 
terioration in  morals  of  an  individual  or  of  a  class,  there  are 
stages  in  the  declension ;  and  it  is  a  fearful  education  which 
conducts  at  last  to  the  lowest  deep.  At  an  early  period,  the 
people  of  the  North  commenced  to  tamper  with  their  religious 
symbols,  until  the  very  creeds  of  the  Church  became  the  nests 
of  heresy  and  deceit.  The  Bible  fell  next  before  this  fell  spirit 
of  apostacy;  its  dogmatic  authority  was  overthrown,  or  else 
ridiculed  as  an  idle  and  obsolete  superstition ;  and  its  sacred 
language  perverted  into  a  sanction  for  all  the  utterances  of  an 
infidel  philosophy.  The  transition  was  easy  to  a  perverse  criti- 
cism which  should  eviscerate  the  Constitution  of  all  its  meaning, 
or  to  a  "higher  law)"  which  should  summarily  dispense  with  the 
obligation  of  oaths  and  covenants.  It  needs  no  argument  of 
mine  to  show  that  treaties  and  compacts  depend  at  last  upon 


19 

the  good  faith  and  honor  of  the  parties  contracting;  and  that 
where  truth  has  lost  its  sanctity,  the  last  bond  between  man  and 
man  is  severed,  and  society  dissolves  in  universal  anarchy  and 
chaos.  Suppose  then  that,  with  inconceivable  generosity,  the 
IS'orth  should  ofier  to  the  subjugated  South  the  liberty  of  reenter- 
ing the  Union  she  has  abandoned,  what  guaranties  can  be  pro- 
posed more  sacred  than  those  which  have  been  already  trampled 
profanely  under  foot  ?  And  what  security  can  the  South  have  of 
the  fulfilment  of  promises  by  a  people  who  have  proclaimed,  with 
unbhishing  profligacy,  their  insensibility  to  honor  and  to  truth? 
Besides  all  this,  an  impassable  gulf  n©w  yawns  between  the 
North  and  South ;  a  sea  of  blood  roUs  its  deep,  dark  tide  be- 
twixt them,  which  never  can  be  crossed;  and  over  the  graves  of 
our  dead,  it  will  be  impossible  to  shake  hands  in  amity  and 
love.  Histor}^  will  perpetuate  the  memory-  of  this  heroic  strug- 
gle, and  our  most  distant  posterity  will  kindle  with  a  just  resent- 
ment at  the  story  of  our  wrongs.  'No,  my  hearers,  there  is  no 
going  back — the  past  is  an  abyss.  The  South  may  possibly  be 
subjugated,  if  such  be  the  stern  decree  of  Heaven,  and  may 
henceforward  be  held  as  a  conquered  province,  to  be  impover- 
ished and  crushed  beneath  the  heel  of  a  bitter  and  relentless 
foe;  but  as  equal  members  in  a  just  and  faithful  alliance,  it  is 
not  written  in  the  book  of  fate  that  South  Caro.lina  and  Massa- 
chusetts shall  sit  side  by  side  as  in  days  of  yore.  The  dream 
of  reconstruction  can  be  cherished  only  by  a  madman,  who  is 
heedless  of  the  most  solemn  lessons  taught  us  by  the  past,  and 
who  knows  nothing  of  the  fury  of  those  passions  set  loose  by 
this  war  to  devour  the  helpless  and  the  innocent.  Imagination 
sickens  at  the  horrors  to  be  enacted,  should  the  South  fail  in 
this  great  struggle  for  independence.  The  last  act  in  the  fearful 
drama  will  be  one  of  terror  and  of  blood.  The  brave  and  noble 
of  our  land,  who  stand  forth  the  representatives  of  Southern 
manliness  and  pride,  will  bend  their  necks  to  the  executioner, 
and  expiate  the  crime  of  daring  to  be  free.  When  the  weary 
headsman  rests  from  his  ignominious  toil,  proscription  and  ban- 
ishment will  follow  with  all  their  lingering  torture.  Our  gallant 
people  will  be  poured  forth,  in  forced  or  voluntary  exile,  to 
mingle  their  blood  with  other  races,  or  else  to  melt  away  like 
the  drifting  snow  upon  the  unfriendly  earth.     The  hungry  agra- 


20 

rian  of  the  jS'orth  will  abandon  his  rocky  glebe  to  carve  for  him- 
self a  kinder  fortune  npou  our  vacant  lands.  The  miserable 
remnant  of  our  people  that  shall  remain  to  weep  amid  the  tombs 
of  their  fathers,  will  bow  beneath  a  servitude  which  daily  insult 
will  render  as  humiliating  as  it  is  oppressive.  Suspicion  will 
dog  them  at  every  step  ;  with  a  picket  at  every  corner,  and  a 
spy  in  every  house,  bullied  and  badgered  by  insolent  ruffians  at 
every  turn,  they  will  find  a  prison  in  their  homes,  and  live  as 
culprits  in  the  land  of  their  birth.  This  gloomy  picture  I  hold 
up,  not  as  a  prophecy  of  the  fate  we  are  doomed  to  incur,  but 
only  as  descriptive  of  what  the  term  subjugation  unquestionably 
imports.  I  thank  God'that,  in  the  darkest  hour,  I  have  never 
despaired  of  the  Republic.  I  have  an  abiding  faith  in  the  right- 
ousness  of  our  cause,  as  well  as  in  the  constancy  and  patriotism 
of  our  people;  and  a  faith  stronger  still  in  the  wisdom  and  good- 
ness of  that  Providence  which,  has  watched  over  us  thus  far  in 
our  momentous  struggle.  "With  God's  blessing  upon  our  strong 
arms  and  willing  hearts,  we  shall  yet  be  free,  and  fulfil  a  glorious 
destiny  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  It  is  well,  however,  to 
consider  the  fate  which  awaits  every  conquered  people,  that  we 
may  resolve  to  escape  it.  If  self-preservation  be  the  first  law 
of  nature,  let  us  write  upon  our  banner  that  we  have  a  right  to 
live;  and  enter  anew  upon  the  conflict,  as  those  whose  very  exist- 
ence is  at  stake.  Better,  infinitely  better,  if  fall  at  last  we  must, 
to  fall  with  the  brave  upon  the  field  of  battle,  with  our  face  to 
the  foe,  a  nation  of  martyrs ;  than  as  slaves,  to  be  consumed  by 
lingering  decay,  the  shame  and  the  scorn  of  history. 

IV.  A  far  more  solemn  and  august  view  of  our  struggle  re- 
mains to  be  presented,  for  the  banner  which  waves  over  us  bears 
■upon  its  folds  this  inscription — God's  right  to  rule  the  world. 
There  is  no  attribute  of  the  Divine  Being  guarded  with  more 
jealousy  than  His  own  sovereignty;  and  history  is  read  to  little 
purpose  if  we  do  not  discover,  in  all  its  grand  epochs,  a  special 
vindication  of  God's  supremacy.  "The  Lord  hath  prepared 
his  throne  in  the  heavens,  and  his  kingdom  ruleth-  over  all." 
"His  dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion,  and  his  kingdom  is 
from  generation  to  generation — all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth 
are  reputed  as  nothing,  and  he  doeth  according  to  his  will 
in  the   army  of  Heaven,    and  among  the   inhabitants  of  the 


21 

earth  ;  and  none  can  stay  his  hand,  or  say  unto  Him,  what  doest 
thou?"  Yet,  with  this  very  interrogatory  in  its  most  profane 
spirit,  the  iTorth  has,  for  more  than  a  generation,  challenged  the 
most  High  God.  Claiming  for  themselves  a  purity  superior  to 
liis  own,  they  have  presumptuously  pronounced  against  the  Di- 
vine administration  from  the  beginning  of  time.  Though  slavery 
has  existed  through  all  the  past,  and  though  it  is  sanctioned  and 
regulated  in  the  scriptures  of  the  Old  and  of  the  Xew  Testa- 
ments, they  arraign  before  their  bar  the  Providence  which  has 
ordained  and  perpetuated  it  until  now.  Nay  more  :  not  content 
with  impeaching  the  Divine  morality,  and  hurling  their  impious 
accusations  against  the  integrity  of  God's  rule,  they  proceed,  in 
all  the  madness  of  fanaticism,  to  rectify  the  errors  of  His  admin- 
tration,  and  to  shape  the  providence  which  shall  henceforth 
guide  and  govern  the  world.  Unabashed  by  the  sublime  patience 
with  which  ^' God's  eternal  thought  moves  on  his  undisturbed 
afiairs,"  and  with  whom  one  day  is  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a 
thousand  years  as  one  day,  these  fierce  zealots  would  quicken 
the  Divine  activity  in  the  accomplishment  of  their  puny  reforms. 
Though  the  universe  should  lie  in  ruins  at  his  feet,  nothing 
must  retard  their  glowing  ambition  to  make  the  world  more 
perfect  than  God  would  have  it  to  be — and  the  sun  must  be 
swept  from  the  face  of  the  sky,  because  their  telescope  has  re- 
vealed a  spot  upon  his  disc.  It  is  this  spirit  of  arrogant  dicta- 
tion, finding  its  climax  in  the  pretensions  of  "a  higher  law," 
which  has  involved  the  North  in  the  guilt  of  perjury,  and  has 
broken  the  holiest  political  covenant  ever  sworn  between  man 
and  man.  It  is  this  which  has  since  lifted  up  the  sword  to 
butcher  those  who  will  not  bend  to  a  merciless  proscriptiou.  It 
is  the  same  spirit,  mounting  to  phrenzy,  which  has  seized  upon 
wise  and  venerable  ministers  of  the  Church — who  have  turned 
away  from  the  gospel  of  God,  to  hound  on  this  war  of  extermi- 
nating and  bitter  revenge.  And  this  it  is,  which  stamps  with 
ungodliness  and  atheism  this  efl^brt  of  our  foes  to  lay  waste  our 
land  with  fire  and  sword.  Under  this  aspect,  our  struggle  rises 
from  the  heroic  into  the  awful  and  sublime.  We  strike  not 
only  for  country,  and  for  home,  for  the  altars  of  our  w^orship 
and  for  the  graves  of  our  dead ;  but  we  strike  for  the  preroga- 
tives of  God,  and  for  His  kingly  supremacy  over  the  earth.  The 


'^^ 


question  at  issue  simply  is,  whether  He  who  has  created  the 
world  shall  rule  it  by  his  wisdom,  or  abdicate  his  power  at  the 
bidding  of  a  lawless  fanaticism  :  whether  his  robust  justice  shall 
continue  to  administer  human  affairs,  or  yield  to  the  sickly 
fancies  of  a  sentimental  and  insane  philanthropy.  We  are  thus 
summoned  to  stand  as  sentinels  around  Jehovah's  throne,  and 
to  vindicate  the  honesty  of  his  reign  against  those  who  have 
assailed  the  one  and  impugned  the  other.  The  preeminent 
grandeur  of  this  war  is  found  in  the  fact  that  it  centres  upon  a 
religious  idea.  On  the  one  hand  is  a  wicked  infidelity,  lifting  its 
rebellious  arm  against  the  Ruler  of  the  universe ;  and  on  the 
other,  humble  loyalty,  receiving  the  blow,  and  offering  itself  a 
sacrifice  to  His  insulted  majesty.  Patriotism  is  sanctified  by 
religion,  which  from  her  sacred  horn  pours  upon  it  the  oil  of 
consecration.  Can  we  doubt  the  issue  of  such  a  conflict?  By 
virtue  of  its  relation  to  the  cause  of  God,  we  can  see  why  the 
instruments  of  His  glory  should  be  purged  with  trial  upon  trial ; 
but  history  and  the  Bible  unite  their  testimony,  that  in  the  end 
the  wicked  will  be  trampled  in  His  fary,  and  those  who  wait  fmr 
His  salvation  shall  rejoice  in  their  deliverance.  I  utter  these 
sentences  with  due  consideration;  for  here,  I  judge,  is  the  pivot 
upon  which  our  triumph  will  turn.  At  the  precise  juncture 
when  independent  nations  are  to  dwell  side  by  side,  and  the 
principle  of  a  balance  of  power  is  introduced  upon  this  western 
continent,  it  is  suitable  that  God  should  practically  demonstrate 
His  lordship  over  the  earth,  and  compel  the  admission  that  He 
"ruleth  in  the  kingdom  of  men."  As  soon,  therefore,  as  this 
truth  shall  be  imbedded  in  the  convictions  of  our  people,  and 
prepare  us  to  be  candid  confessors  of  the  Divine  supremacy, 
then,  and  not  till  then,  will  He  overthrow  our  enemies  and  estab- 
lish us  in  the  land.  In  the  firm  belief  that  He  will  assert  our 
liberties  in  the  assertion  of  His  rights,  we  are  certain  of  ulti- 
mate triumph,  since  the  battle  is  not  ours,  but  His.  "We  lay 
the  nation  beneath  the  shadow  of  His  throne,  and  bide  His 
arbitration  through  the  fearful  ordeal  of  battle. 

Such,  Senators  and  Representatives,  is  "the  banner  given  us 
to  be  displayed  because  of  the  truth."  For  myself,  I  solemnly 
and  reverently  accept  it  from  the  hands  of  Almighty  God,  willing 
in  life  and  in  death  to  confess  the  principles  inscribed  upon  its 


23 

folds.  Do  yon  this  day,  on  behalf  of  a  noble  constituency, 
accept  it  with  a  like  devotion  ?  Then  sfend  forth  the  ntteranee, 
whose  echo  rebo.unding  from  our  mountain  sides,  shall  miugle 
wnth  the  deep,  hoarse  murmurs  of  the  sea,  and  be  borne  by  the 
winds  of  heaven  to  the  distant  nations  who  have  left  us  alone 
with  our  fate  and  with  our  God.  Here  to-day,  at  the  Capital  of 
this  ancient  and  venerable  Commonwealth,  let  us  *'in  the  name 
of  our  God  set  up  our  banner."  It  is  for  you,  the  representa- 
tives of  a  suffering  and  heroic  people,  to  reflect  the  spirit  of 
martyrdom  which  reigns  in  th^  hearts  of  your  constituency. 
Our  sons  have  gone  forth,  girdling  the  Confederacy  with  a  liviug 
wall :  at  whose  foot  is  heard  the  sullen  roar  of  the  invading  tide, 
rolling  up  in  the  madness  of  its  rage,  and  dashing  into  idle 
foam.  Our  martjrs  are  upon  the  battle  plain,  undergoing  the 
fearful  baptism  of  blood:  and  wdien  the  electric  wires  convey 
to  every  home  the  tidings  of  death,  pale  and  silent  mourners 
are  there,  undergoing  the  equal  baptism  of  grief  Wife  and 
mother  press  the  hand  upon  their  breaking  hearts,  and  plead 
with  God  to  accept  the  sacrifice  which  the  strongest  human 
love  has  not  wished  to  withdraw  from  the  altar.  Beside  that 
altar  you  have  now  summoned  the  priest  to  stand,  and  with  the 
,holy  offices  of  religion  to  sanctify  the  oblation.  The  oftering 
which  patriotism  renders  to  country,  a  sovereign  State,  on 
bended  knee,  witli  sacramental  fervor,  dedicates  to  God.  Lift 
up  the  right  hand  to  Heaven,  as  the  grand  oath  rolls  up  above 
the  stars,  that  you  are  prepared  for  death,  but  not  for  infamy — 
that  the  sacred  rights,  for  which  we  are  now  contending,  shall 
never  be  extinguished,  but  in  the  blood  of  an  exterminated 
race.  The  vow  is  registered :  and  He,  wbo  sits  enthroned  be- 
neath the  emerald  rainbow,  smiles  upon  us  from  out  the  dark 
cloud,  as  he  writes  against  it  the  hour  of  deliverance.  Let  us 
but  do,  and  endure,  till  the  hand  upon  the  dial-plate  touches  the 
last  second  of  the  appointed  time,  and  sounds  forth  the  note 
of  our  redemption.  Patiently  submitting  to  that  righteous 
discipline  by  which  He  prepares  us  for  greatness  and  for 
glory;  trusting  in  that  Almighty  arm  which  is  pledged  to 
strike  down  the  haughty  and  the  proud ;  humbling  ourselves  in 
penitence  and  shame  for  our  private  and  our  public  sins ; 
piously  accepting  every  trust  which  His  sovereign  will  imposes; 


24 

and  consolidated  by  the  sufterings  which  He  calls  us  to  endure ; 
we  wait  the  fulness  of  the  time  when  we  shall  once  more  rejoice 
in  the  blessings  of  liberty  and  of  peace.  Oh  Israel,  "  there  is 
none  like  unto  the  God  of  Jeshurun,  who  rideth  upon  the  heaven 
in  thy  help,  and  in  His  excellency  on  the  sky.  The  eternal  God 
is  thy  refuge,  and  underneath  thee  are  the  everlasting  arms ; 
and  He  shall  thrust  out  the  enemy  from  before  thee,  and  shall 
say,  destroy  them.  Israel  then,  shall  dwell  in  safety  alone  ;  the 
fountain  of  Jacob  shall  be  upon  a  land  of  corn  and  wine;  also 
His  heavens  shall  drop  dew.  Happy  art  thou,'0  !  Israel:  who 
is  like  unto  thee,  0  !  people  saved  by  the  Lord,  the  shield  of 
thy  help,  and  who  is  the  sword  of  thy  excellency !  and  thine 
enemies  shall  be  found  liars  unto  thee,  and  thou  shalt  tread 
upon  their  high  places." 


